23 October 2012

Meat Mist - "Smut"

I've been following the KC 3 piece Meat Mist ever since we found their debut record, Bleak Bisque. That 9 track powerhouse album was one of the first disturbing pieces of music I really ever came across (before my musical sensibilities changed and the blog as you know it now exists). Disturbing lyrics, harsh screams, and disorienting guitars and drums. It really was something else to me when I first discovered them. And as you all know, I've recommended almost every new release that's come off of these guys record label XO Press, one of our favorite record labels ever and one of the most important labels in the KC DIY scene in our opinion. So, when the second Meat Mist LP Smut dropped over the summer, we immediately picked up a vinyl copy of it. I've for some reason put off the article on this record, despite listening to it since later in the summer. So, here we go. This is probably one of the best hardcore LP's you'll here all year. The guitar and bass playing of Stephen Proski and James Rumsey is crazy. They play some of the most disturbing, sour and disorienting sounds and chords you can find, and throw them together into very loud bursts of noise. Tons of noise, feedback, and chords that aren't real chords: much more an assembly of sour notes all put together in the most disturbing array of sound I've ever heard. The infamous genius Dan Ohm is a madman on the drums, perfectly suited for the quick tempo changes and occasionally quite fast songs. Very dark and disturbing lyrics just chill you right to the bone. Lyrics dealing with sex, drugs, violence, madness, anarchy and torture seem to be very common place in this record. The whole album is just this crazy, maddening and disturbing collection of songs that just sort of documents someone who's so far off the deep end and there's nothing to do but embrace it. And that's what this LP wants you to do. Embrace it. Embrace the terrifying images that they've painted. Just dive right into the darkness to see what you find. What you find might change you. The LP is streaming and available for downloading up above, and email here to get a vinyl copy here. I've had mine since July.